Moss Point officials seeking solutions for sinkhole problem (updated)

Large sink holes at this residence off Bay Avenue in Moss Point have caused portions of this fence to collapse. Some are the holes are several feet deep. (April Havens/ahavens@al.com)

MOSS POINT, Mississippi -- Mark and Penny Vargas want to build a new home on Bay Avenue, but they are afraid of sink holes that have developed along a fence they share with neighbors.

The sink holes dot the yards of residents on Colleen Street, Bay Avenue, Rocky Creek Road, Gregory Street, Jean Street, and adjoining roadways in the east Moss Point neighborhood off Miss. 63, said Penny Vargas.

"We've been concerned about it because I've lived here all my life," she said. "We'd like to build a house here but the flooding is so bad.

"During (Hurricane) Irene it got to the top here (of canal along Colleen Street). The water wasn't draining because of the culvert that's broken," she said.

Vargas, her husband and Ward 1 Alderman Sherwood Bradford said the sink holes come from the collapse of drainage culverts along the Vargas's front yard and backyard property lines.

A neighbor's wooden fence on Rocky Creek Road is sagging because of the holes, which Penny Vargas said are deep enough to stand in, and are dangerous for neighborhood children and adults who have to do work around the cave-ins.

She said the sink holes appear at each section where the culverts have fallen in along the east and north side of their property, which includes where her mother, Maxine Mills, still lives in her home.

Bradford said correcting the problem has been a long time coming, but a solution is closer than it's been since he came into office four years ago.

During October the Moss Point Board of Aldermen approved a final design for the Bay Avenue/Colleen Street Drainage Project, and also approved advertisements for a project engineer and for bids on the infrastructure work. Contracts for the work, around $300,000, may be awarded in December.

"Drainage and infrastructure in Moss Point is a major problem," said Bradford. "There have been eight to 12 houses that have cave-ins in their yards. They've got fencing back there. If we don't get these fixed we will have an emergency."

Water also backs up in the yard where the Vargases now lives on Bay Avenue, across from their proposed home site where his hobby shop is at the end of Colleen Street that intersects with Bay Avenue.

Large sink holes, such as this one off Bay Avenue, are causing problems for Moss Point residents. (April Havens/ahavens@al.com)

It's been seven years since Vargas moved into the neighborhood. He said flooding didn't seem as noticeable just after Hurricane Katrina, but now the canal that flowed so freely along Colleen then now backs up with water and overflows during heavy rains.

He is skeptical about any forthcoming solution, saying he and his wife have been told it's a money issue, and been quoted several different cost estimates of the infrastructure at different times. They and other neighbors have talked to city officials both publicly and personally.

"We've had several contractors show up, and they will say they will show up in next couple of weeks (to fix the problem), and then nothing happens," he said. "If you are not going to do it, say so."

He said the city even bought in a retired public works superintendent to handle the issue. Consultant Robert Armstrong is working with the issue, though Mayor Aneice Liddell said he was hired to help find a new public works director.

"The culverts are rotten," said Armstrong. "We are in the process now of putting new piping all the way through."

Liddell said the work has to go through the governmental process and it had to be financed.

Bradford said getting work done on the sinkholes has not moved as fast as he would have liked, though he has made extra efforts to get it done. Residents often call him about it. "I've been trying to get this fixed since I was elected," he said.

Bradford said city crews recently did some clearing work on Colleen Street.

"That will help us with some of the flooding. It's not flowing like it should. It should flow out to Highway g63, but it doesn't because of the cave-ins," he said. "It's an old system that's being restored."

Mark Vargas said the sink holes are not the only problem, but they can only tackle one problem at a time. They also want the city to install drainage ditches or culverts on Bay Avenue.